TX TX - Julie Moseley, 9, Mary Trlica, 17, Lisa Wilson, 14, Fort Worth, 23 Dec 1974 #6

[beubeubeu]

To be fair, LE enforcement's actions seem to be pretty unusual as well. But "ridiculous" may be more appropriate description there.

And I don't even mean it as being neglectful or just the fact that they classified girls as runways. I mean that it doesn't make any logical sense either - considering what we know (since I obviously can't consider things that aren't publicly available).

So okay, it's 1974. Likely not that many resources, not so many tools to use and the general attitude of "well, they're probably just runaways". Everyone who follows missing person's stories knows that there is no shortage of cases where police kept refusing to even make a report for a missing person, lying that they have to wait 24 hours, 48, 72, a week, even a month (in Misty Copsey's case for example), but all of those that I can recall either had at least:
a) SOME tiny hint that they may be dealing with runaway case,
b) some possible to point out reasoning for the type or lack of action taken on the LE's part (at times being absolutely outrageous, but outrageous and consistent - meaning that you can see how lack of experience, prejudice, laziness, neglect appeared at point A and how it led to point B).

As for the point "a". Handsight is 20/20 and cops being cops - they had to deal with many false kidnapping or even runaway claims that turned out to be nothing serious and missing person either came back home or was found safe and sound. Even in 70's big majority of reported missing persons cases had quick and happy resolution and LE had to consider that someone could just make a decision to start a new life or had some temporary issues with conntacting family. They simply couldn't put all their resources into searching and investigating any MP report - understandable.
Working the job that they did and listening to family member's story they probably were able to name a few cases where it looked kinda similar, and some time later missing person came back, made a conntact or was found safe. Sometimes it saved their time and effort, sometimes they made terrible mistake.

But how it applies here?

If it was "just" Rachel going missing, okay, 70's, maybe they could assume that she was unhappy in her marriage and went away to start fresh leaving car behind cause it wasn't her car. Doing that on a day when she had a planned shopping trip would be not the worst idea: she could by herself some time to get away before anyone got suspicious.
I wouldn't agree with that reasoning, but it would be - to a degree - understandable. Especially adding the fact that she left a note behind.

Maybe maybe the same, stretched theory could apply to Renee running away with her. Cause 14 yo could say that she's older and get some kind of job somewhere. So maybe they planned it together. A note that kinda explains what they're doing and where they're going... okay - possibly a cop could tell a few examples of cases with teenagers that looked kinda similar. Also - but to a lesser degree - understandable.

But THREE girls, including one kid who don't even know one of the older girls that well?
What savings could they have?
No clothes taken from their homes, no personal belongings, not even a bit of money in Julie's case. Even some pants left behind.
Car dropped far from the bus stop.
No history of running away.
Terrified families.
Where could they go right before Christmas? With no change of clothes? Even leaving some clothes behind?
No freaking way that any of these cops knew similar cases that turned out to be nothing serious with everyone coming back home safe. No freaking way.
Some running away 9 year olds maybe, but I bet that none in similar circumstances.

Then, there is a note clearly saying that they'll be back in a week or so. Then "week or so" passes and GIRLS ARE NOT BACK HOME.
No more letters, no calls, nothing.
Why none of them called from that "Houston" trip?

When something like that happens? When two teenage girls are going with their life like nothing bad is going on, just to ask few people to join them on a shopping trip to end up running away for some time with neighbourhood kid, leave a note or maybe even a call to say when they will be back, but they're not back at that time... and it somehow ends up like nothing scary, found/back safe. Ever?

How they figured two teenagers being able to support not only themselves but a kid as well? What about school? Wasn't Julie supposed to go to school?
What was going on with their minds?
Why they didn't acted like at least in Julie's case they're dealing with kidnapping?
Not one but three families swearing that it's not like them to disappear without a word.
Two closest Rachel's family members saying that it doesn't look like her handwriting.
Anyone could go on and on with these questions, and these are all valid, but their actions don't make sense.

We're not talking cops from some small town in the middle of nowhere, where last missing person case happened in 1942. It's a pretty big city with wide range of crimes happening.
We're also (as far as I know) not dealing with cops reluctant to do their job. They showed up at the mall relatively quickly. They checked out girls car, asked some questions and left. They could do more, now we know that they should do more for the girls sake, but they did something. They didn't refuse to do anything like many others.
And on the next day they showed up at the A's home, notified about the letter. Some form of engagement and dedication it was. They certainly didn't have to show up there in person, could just demand to deliver them the note, but they showed up. At least one was clever enough to ask for the envelope - even if it was just their drill, they done that and that was a good job on their part.

But what caused that sudden change then?
Maybe they could calm down for "about a week", believing that note is genuine.
But what then?
First week on January. Girls didn't came back. Never called, never wrote another letter, never send a postcard from Houston.
They have at least two people claiming that Rachel didn't wrote that note.
They have a kid who should be going to school but no one knows where she is.
They have a note written in pen and envelope addressed in pencil.

This is not the point where any person with half of a brain would figure that the likelyness of them being runaways just increased.
Public interest is high, media coverage is there. It's not only unreasonable to put more money on the runaway theory but also not so great for LE's image to decrease their interest in this case.
But that's exactly what they did. Case became ten times more suspicious as "about a week" passed and they weren't even consistently reluctant to investigate, they decreased their involvement... as claims in the note revealed themselves to be false.

What sense does that make? It's ridiculous and inconsistent... unless in the mean time they somehow got more reasons to believe that they indeed were runaways.
They didn't get them from reality, cause reality screamed otherwise.
They didn't get them from experience, cause they couldn't possibly have similar cases in mind to make an assumption that under circumstances like that, girls are more likely than not safe and staying away on their own will.
And we're not talking some lone, miserable cop who in 20 years on the job dealed only with petty theft, noise complaints and fights in local bar at his town of 800 people and has no idea what to do about missing people.

They were either crazy, or got some more reasons to believe that girls are runaways. And not some little things cause Julie was nine. NINE. Nine and no school, not healthcare, no adult supervision, no legal guardian with her, no family member with her, no change of clothes, no money, no reason to run away and nowhere to go, not even a car to sleep in, no toothbrush, no pajamas, no nothing.
And, more importantly - no reason, absolutely NO REASON for any of the girls to NOT pack at least small bag or a backpack with them, if that "Houston" trip or running away action was planned. Rachel could easily pack a small bag and put it in the trunk when nobody was watching. Renee was staying overnight at her grandmas - so great excuse to pack fill at least her school backpack with clothes, take a toothbrush, hairbrush, change of shoes, maybe a blanket. She could take it with her easily, causing no suspicion in the morning.
- What are you carrying there?
- Oh, I'm hiding christmas gift for you/parents/Rachel/anyone.
End of story. Same with Julie. Her mom at work, she could take a few clothes with her.
Yet, she didn't. None of them did. How many runaways do that? Not many. Would be possible with spontaneous act, but no three underage girls, two teens and one kid are "spontaneously" running away and staying away for "about a week".

If TT's story about what he did on that day have zero sense, then this makes negative thousand sense. It's unbelieveable - and by "unbelieveable" I don't mean outrageous, I mean impossible.
That "assumption" lasted for months, long months, in span of which families went crazy, repeatedly spoke to newspapers, repeatedly expressed their disappointment in LE, hired a PI. LE couldn't just stay oblivious to all of that without any - with lack of a better description - "strong force", reassuring them that they're doing the right thing.

What was it? What could it be? Some claims that later appeared to be false but then somehow made running away theory seem likely?
Some sort of inside pressure to not investigate? Overwhelming amount of more urgent cases just flooding local LE and exhausting all their human resources isn't a reason to keep something like that classified as runaways. What else? Severe multiple case of stupidity? That wouldn't magically appear in late December just to heal after few months. So either first or second possibility, nothing else makes even the slightest bit of sense.

 

[beubeubeu]

It'd probably be bit challenging to tell, but December 1974, Fort Worth.
How likely it'd be that a person stumbling upon few purchases scattered on the ground at the parking lot would notify anyone about it?
Was it a thing to try to return stuff to some "missing and found" stand nearby? Was anything like that even around?
Let's say that girls were at the mall, bought something, maybe one gift for a kid or few items and were attacked while trying to get back to the car and if those things would end up on the ground - would people see that as odd and try to find the owner, figure out what happend or just grab those things for themselves?
I know that's impossible to tell for sure, but what would be more likely for an average person - trying to return it, looking for some security guard at the mall or some "missing and found" section, or grab it quickly and pretend like nothing happened?

 

[beubeubeu]

So... there is a thing that I wanted to see on the map: cold cases and missing women from the area in years prior and after girls went missing.


Feb. 4, 1967 (Saturday)
Light brown arrow is approx location of the club that Mildred May visited on the feral night. She left about 10:30 PM and headed home.
Her locked car was located along the way she would be taking to return home, it was speculated that she may want to use a phone.
Her purse was located along the West Freeway (that's along road 30), and it appeared as it was thrown out of a moving vehicle.
Her body was located somewhere along the Trinity River, but I wasn't able to find where exactly it was. Estimated TOD was 4 AM. She was stripped naked, tortured, beaten, raped and strangled.

Later some whitness appeared and claimed that he saw a "negro" and white woman struggling at the location around 2 AM. And he even remembered what car was standing next to them (not Mildred's car). But as little evidence as there was, it strongly implies that there should be two cars. One Mildred's, one belonging to the perp, who likely followed her from the bar.
I wonder if that whitness was POI, cause the "negro" lead went nowhere. As it should IMO, cause if she'd be very much alive at 2 AM, then that would leave her murderer just two hours to take her somewhere, do all these horrific things to her and dump her body near the river. Her clothes were not found, and that hints at her being taken somewhere.

Then, on 27th of August 1971 (Friday) a construction worker found the body of Brandy St Romain lying in a drainage ditch, she was stabbed to death.
Not much more I can find about her.
Her body was found where red arrow shows. So... not that close.


Another, still unsolved case is murder of Shelia Gocher
Found in a gravel pit on January 2, 1972 (Sunday), a person who was walking along Trinity Blvd observed the body of Sheila Gocher lying in a gravel pit. Stabbed to death.
I can't find anything more about her either.

Brandy and Sheila had stab wounds listed as cause of death, but it's unknown if Mildred didn't have any stab wounds, but investigators were quoted explaining how horrific her murder was... and no statements seem to be available about them. When they disappeared, in what circumstances? Any missing clothing? All unknown.

Dark blue arrow points at where Sheila's body was found.

 

[beubeubeu]

When I started with it I was thinking only about the exposure that could affect person or persons who abducted girls, but now...
Fort Worth seem to have no still missing man but few missing women, victims of decades long cold cases from that time are also all women. It may be just coincidental, but that's very unusual ratio. Maybe the only reason for that is that unsolved murders and missing cases of men got even less coverage and attention than just 18 years old Sheila, maybe somehow got lost over the years, but it feels odd.

I found more about Mildred thou.
I was well off with Mildred's body location. Apparently she was taken much farther than my initial guess (with the closest secludeish area to the spot where her car was found) and the supposed whitness supposedly saw two people struggling near where her body was found, not near where she was abducted.
So even if he did whitnessed something, it was almost certainly not Mildred, cause it'd be over three hours after she left the pub. And IMO she was ambushed as soon as she get out of her car. And, also IMO the only reason why she stopped near phone booth while being just minutes away from her home was that she was targeted, at this very bar, and someone intentionally messed with her car, so they'd get a chance to attack her with no whitnesses around.
And that would mean that she was the first one that we know of, who ended up abducted from a public parking lot.

This is more accurate map:



Becky Martin was kidnapped from college parking lot on the evening of Feb. 27th 1973. Her school papers scattered around it as it was located later. Her body later found near Benbrook Lake, cause of death listed only as "trauma", cause apparently it was impossible to tell anything more specific.



With so little known about Shelia and Brandy it's impossible to tell if there is enough to justify including them in this theory, but locations of their bodies: drainage ditch and gravel pit are just eerily similar. Less secluded than later victims but also very little coverage in media - with Mildred there was some attention at least from the press and investigators were clearly saying that they have no clue who could be behind it. So maybe same killer didn't feel like covering his tracks much?
Also, they were using polygraphs to rule out suspects early on. No wonder that they were left chasing mythical "negro".
Also Jesus Christ, how many people were innocently executed just cause they were scared and failed?

February 17th, 1974 (Sunday) - Carla Walker got dragged out of the vehicle. As we all know, even her boyfriend's presence didn't help her, as armed Glen McCurley had all the intentions to beat him to death on the spot. She begged him to stop and promised to go with him, then she was taken to the location, beaten, tortured and eventually murdered and dumped near the Benbrook lake. Her body found in a culvert.


After Becky was the one that survived. Ruth Duncan.
It seems like she was the oldest, cause bit over 40, when she got kidnapped from a supermarket's parking lot.
July 25th, 1974 (Monday)

"Or what happened to Ruth Duncan might not have happened at all. The longtime employee of Buddie’s supermarket on Camp Bowie Boulevard was abducted from the store’s parking lot on July 25, 1974. Duncan told police her attacker pushed his way into her car, threatened her with a knife, and then drove toward Benbrook. He was small in stature, with sandy hair combed forward and then flipped back, soft-spoken, neatly dressed, in his 20s, with intense eyes. Duncan tried to convince him to take her back. “I’m old enough to be your grandmother,” she told him. “That doesn’t matter,” he replied. He took Texas 377 to a spot near the area where Carla Walker’s body had been found several months earlier. During the ride, he told her he had killed two girls and dumped their bodies in culverts, she said.

For reasons that Duncan can’t explain, her pleadings seemed to sway her kidnapper. He drove back to Fort Worth, but pulled over and raped her along the way. “He came to a climax and yanked it out and went all over my clothing, mostly on my underwear,” she said. The man then drove to a parking lot next door to Buddie’s and told Duncan to get out but to leave her purse. She kicked the purse out of the car as she got out, and he sped away. Police found the car abandoned nearby.

Duncan, now 74, recalled that police showed her several photos, and she picked one that seemed to match her attacker. The police officer told her that the man in the photo had recently died in a car crash. She later went to the police department and viewed a line-up, but none of the men resembled her attacker. That was the last she heard from police."
Source

Two women.
Two women murdered.
Two women murdered and dumped near Benbrook Lake.
And it was July 25th.
February 17th same year Carla was abducted.
February 27th previous year Becky was abducted.
Both dumped near the Benbrook.

Then likely got living whitness who came forward, told them that, was willing to help, testify and try to recognise the guy but local police just ignored her.
McCurley was 31 at the time. 26 when Mildred was abducted. Interested in Ruth's purse. Mildred's purse was also taken from her and throw out of a moving vehicle after he took whatever he wanted from there.
Two young murdered women that they could easily connect to the same perp, or at least thoroughly investigate that lead to make sure if maybe it was "just" one of the respectable local rapists who read about it in newspapers and "bragged", but apparently not much got done.



December 23rd 1974 (Monday), Seminary South - car locked, three girls missing.



Then, Kathleen Lee Murphy went missing on the March 7th 1976 (Sunday).
She closed the bar she worked at LEAVING HER PURSE BEHIND and there is no more info, but the bar's location I found on websleuths is...



Then, Sherrye Lee Bethel went missing on July 15th 1976 (Thursday)
Her husband who last saw her explained that she left him. But how he figured? Did she told him that she's leaving him, packed her stuff and left her little son behind? Did he murdered her and used this buletproof explanation cause it always works? Or did he just figured that she must left him cause she didn't came home one day.
Cause it could be the third, and even first doesn't mean that she wasn't kidnapped right away (cause no later conntact) I'm not excluding her either. She's still missing.
Date of her disappearance may be off, and only used in court to grant him a divorce cause of abandonement.



Then, June Ward. February 18, 1977 (Friday)
She was found naked, beaten and lying near a curb. Her car found on the service road. She was repeatedly struck in head with sharp object "like a hatchet" as she was already dead. Also badly beaten, possibly tortured.



Ore Lee Prescott body was found on June 4, 1977 (Saturday) . She had been strangled. Her car was found in another location of the park.

 

[beubeubeu]

Sadly there is nothing more on Ore.



There was also 17 year old Lecia McGee, found murdered on January 22, 1978, she was going home after visiting friends as she lived in Fort Worth before her family moved few miles away. She was found with her throat slashed and multiple stabbing wounds in the trunk of her car.
One of her tires was flattened and it looked like someone was waiting for her inside the car and attacked her from behind while she was driving.

I wasn't searching through later years as thorougly as before, and my access is limited, but...

Christy Towers, she worked in a bar, went missing on February 4th 1983 (Friday) . Was abducted while walking to her car. Doors on the rear passenger seat were unlocked, as well as driver's. There was a struggle inside, but despite of the scene being staged as car burglary, nothing from the car was missing. Her purse was located through a guy who tried to pass her check in a store that took pictures of people using checks. He told LE that he found her purse in one of the Camp Boulevard bars.
Whitness from her workplace recalled seeing her arguing with a guy who was rude while hitting on her and other women there.

Purse found in a trash can at the bar on the Camp Bowie Boulevard:



Angela Ewert, December 11th, 1984 (Saturday). She was driving back home, last seen on the gas station in Wedgenwood (near Benbrook Lake). Her car found six miles away, along the road 820. With flat tire.
Her body was found 9 years later - sand pit, rural south Fort Worth but I'm too exhausted at this point to search for the exact location.
My bet would be that much closer to Benbrook than to Arlington.



Then, found of February 1986 (Monday) nude body of an unidenfified female found lying near curb, partially covered by blanked with some of her clothing entangled in it, implying that she was driven there and dumped. Found on driveway of a vacant lot. Strangled.
She may be known as Hillside Jane Doe but I never heard of her before.



Maroon square is random, just shows one square mile.
Big arrow points at McCurley's home. Close to which Angela's and Christy's purses were located, also seemingly thrown out of a moving vehicle.

Oh, and he was working with some construction work that made him well associated with all of these drainage ditches, sand pits, gravel pits and of course the Benbrook Lake area.



Am I seeing things, or this elephant in the room is so huge that it's easier to miss the room than to notice an elephant?
So many similarities between all of them. And where there is seemingly not that many similarities there is just not enough info to tell.
Apart from Becky, abducted on Thursday and Sherrye who's exact time of disappearance is uncertain, all got abducted and murdered on weekends. And, as far as available details show, after dark. And from parking lots.
I see some horryfying about six months gap between the attacks. All in Winter or Summer, none in Spring or Fall. Of course not all of these are certainly connected, but... no cold case of missing woman who went missing in Spring or Fall, no cold case murder from Spring or Fall... but this many that seem like a cycle?

But could he be responsible for the girls disappearance? If Berdanbe... whatever his last name is was considered a suspect just cause he was a serial killer and commited frauds at malls, then this one should be considered too. June's car broke less than a mile from SS. Where he make sure that her car will broke quickly?

I'm too exhausted to tell what my theory even is right now. I just wanted to have it done.

 

[beubeubeu]

All of that just to end up in almost same place I've been before. Similarities between those crimes go beyond simple fact that watching women and following them while they're heading to their cars after dark, on the parking lots, where they weren't instantly alarmed by someone else's presence seems to be pretty convenient way to attack for a serial killer.

How it'd look like with solved cases, supposedly solved cases and rapes in the area I'll never know. But some tings should be pointed out by people right away. People were always interested in gossip and they wouldn't stop talking how it "instantly" reminded them this and that.
Earlier in this thread someone brought up a possibility that the note's author could be inspired by something they saw in a movie. Immense task to search for it now, but if that would be the case, it should ring some bells in people's mind then. And that would be great excuse to write an article or share a gossip "this note looks exactly like something I saw in the movie "whatever title" earlier that year".

IMO nothing really suggest that getting away with murder, even multiple murder required any level of sophistication, planning or extensive covering up efforts. Seems like all it took was to wait for a girl or woman to be alone, kidnap her and dump her body anywhere. No extensive investigation upon hearing about confession from a serial killer and rapist.

Some things point at the possibile connection with other murders, more things are speaking against it. Not enough to tell for sure.

At this point I can only repeat myself... time to stop I guess.

 

[beubeubeu]

I just read in a book about Ted Bundy in which he was talking about early 70s and reffered to sex shops offering wide selection of books about women being abducted after forced to stop cause the main character pierced tire in their car or did something to cause a car to malfunction, after watching them for some time.

It realle changes perspective.
Even if there is no direct connection there (meaning perp getting inspiration from this kind of literature) nor with other crimes happening in the area in years prior and after (meaning either some or even all being commited by same perp or the girls abductor being inspired by previous crimes commited by someone else)...
When I first started thinking about this case I was under impression that it was something what happened out of the blue, totally unusual, unexpected, something that local LE had no experience of dealing with... just to learn that ir was not the case at all.

Which makes even more shocking that they didn't investigate their disappearance with the highest priority right away. To the very least they had knowledge of Mildred, Becky, Carla and Ruth, all kidnapped from their cars or after being forced/tricked/caught before they made it back to their cars. And literally no excuse for the girls absence till the next morning.
Then, they may believe that note was genuine (but why if Rachel's mother and husband were claiming that's not her handwriting?) but once again - 8 to 10 days later, so at worst on the January 2nd that far fetched excuse from the note expired... and then what? Three minors missing, abandoned car, few murdered young women disappearing in similar circumstances...there is just no explanation for that initial lack of action.

 

[Wells]

Hi Crew. Been off the site for a while. Moved across the country. Covid finally got me last Sunday so I've had time to read. Started with #1/1 offline. Logged in at #2/1. Great early contributions by TexasSandman, Deige/Debra, Balthazar/Princess Rose, Kaiser Sousa, TaterTot (recall working with you on other cases), JustThinkin, FW Cat/DM165916, Via Marple, TGWebs, Parksestx and Ozoner. Y'all kept this alive. Thank you. Going to keep reading for now. Have a couple of questions for later.

 

[beubeubeu]

Notifications got me thinking about this again.
I had to do this totally useless and valueless analysis of the note since I can't stop thinking about it.


"I know I'm going to catch it, but we" - written nicely, with confidence, no errors.

"just had toget away. W e're going to Houston" - written all sloppy, letters too close together, terrible pacing, some letters written over twice or pen suddenly pressed very hard with "d", "t" and "a". It also looks like the ' in "we're" was added twice and writer decided to cross one of these.

Nothing like this visible on the envelope or in the first line of the note. But later there is more of that.

"See" - and mistake, written over, possible attempt to fix "y" from "you" that started to appear too close to the previous word, like the writer got aware that second line was not written properly.
"in about a" - again, written nicely, nothing weird there, but right after that there is
"week" - looks childish, like from the second line.

"T he" - sudden huge gap between the letters of the same word, nothing like this is present before.
"car is in Seairs upper lot." - childish handwriting still, distance between words decreases to almost disappear between last two words. Both "p"'s pressed very hard just to have squished "lot" at the end as edge of the paper got too close.

That "c" in "car" is also interesting. Looks different than all other "c"'s.
The way that the writer seem to be writing the letter "c" is to have it looking exactly like "e" but differenciated by small, vertical line next to it's belly, and it's not how this "c" is written, it's one line and it doesn't have the "e" shape, despite of it being the same letter connection in "car" as in "catch".

I never stumbled on actual photo of the envelope, but that "c" in "Trlica" does not look like any "c" in the letter - and neither is the "c" in "Rachel" on the envelope.
It looks like three different ways to write a "c", and it's not like one word is "car" and the other "tricky" or "occupied" where different letters are coming after which could reasonably cause bit different shape. It looks the same in "CAtch" and "RaChel" in the note, but it is different from "CAr" in the note and "RaChel" on the envelope - both of which seem to be written in the same way with that triangle-like shape... but the "c" it "TrliCA" looks like neither of those.

Both capital "T" on the envelope are different than in the letter.

"H"'s are also all around the place with it's shape.

 

[jetsfanjohn]

JMO, but I think some secretary in a small business probably wrote the envelope before putting a Christmas card in it and posting it to the Trlicas, a week before Christmas.

As for the letter....written by someone else.

 

[beubeubeu]

JMO, but I think some secretary in a small business probably wrote the envelope before putting a Christmas card in it and posting it to the Trlicas, a week before Christmas.

This is some good thinking but like everything in this case, it doesn't add up that well.
It'd be a great possibility, BUT it's written in pencil.
I'd expect a small business to have some sort of stamp with their address (cause that seems reasonable, it's a tiny bit of advertisement: dozen cards sent, and there is a chance that one of the receivers will mention their business to some friend or relative visiting on christmas). Mailing christmas cards without that could happen but it wouldn't be the smartest choice IMO.
Also pencil? Wouldn't that decrease the clients trust if Christmas card would be posted like that?
Both those things do not exclude this possibility, but chances for that are pretty small I'd think.
We know for sure that it was mailed at the Mall's post office. So somewhere close. It'd have to be a convenient spot to mail that and if SS would be a convenient spot, then a person who mailed it would live nearby and likely would mail other postcards, also using only a pencil. Wouldn't that bug somebody's mind to learn about this?

Well, I guess that chances that the answer for that is "no" are pretty high.

But... judging by the writing on the copy of the envelope that's available online - I mean those circles with numbers... it looks like the shape of numbers and capital letters from the envelope could be what pointed at TT being the author.

Also, I'm sorry for asking but WHAT IN THE ACTUAL HELL is THAT?!



Why there is a few seconds long shot of a page with some busty cartoon character's adventures in the coverage for the missing girls right before they interview despairing Renee's mother?
Is this thing somehow related to the case? Why is this there?

But back to the note & envelope.

Quality is not good, but it shows both, the letter and the envelope, and from that I'd never tell that different tools were used to write there.





It just doesn't sound right.
Despite all these things that are making some letters look different, there is still a lot of similarities between the writing on the envelope and in the letter.

For me it's a bit too much similarities.
I'd bet on different state of mind, or different circumstances of writing both of these (chair, desk, good light vs. bending a notebook over a knee, while sitting in the car in the evening) more than on having two people writing it.

What would be the odds that someone will mail something to Thomas with no returning address, from the place they went missing from with conveniently such similar handwriting?
I mean it's possible, he could be getting a lot of mail, or could expect such envelope to arrive soon if someone was sending it like that for every occasion. If that was a good classmate from HS, then likelyness of similarities in their handwriting would increase.

But why, why such a trouble if he could easily put it into the post box at the SS post office on the late 23rd or early 24th and still get this stamp?

I'm still leaning towards the idea that what's in red rectangles looks different from the rest, cause these parts are true, while the rest is not.
TT's address was "true". Rachel's love for him was believed to be true. Her, being somewhat aware that some consequences of whatever are going to "catch" her were true - but that was about it.
And they didn't have to get away. They did not go to Houston. They won't be seen by anyone in "about a week" or ever. And the car was not in the Seairs upper lot... yet. And obviously Rachel did not signed this.

 

[beubeubeu]

I think that I finally came up with a theory that makes sense to me.
I would not dare to consider that I could really figure out anything (considering how limited my knowledge about this case is) but it was probably what I kept hoping for: to figure out something that does not scream "ridiculous" at one point or another.

 

[Wells]

If they really did talk to Tommy then his story had changed. That is the wrong bowling alley though. It would be Wedgewood Bowl. I remember seeing something in another language like that and just got so aggravated with it that I didn’t interpret it all. I’d be really interested in what he and Debra especially told them. If they spoke with Debra I will be thoroughly and completely shocked because she will not discuss this with anyone anymore. So I’d be very interested in listening to their recordings.

I just finished reading all of the threads since #1/1. Two questions. It has been a minute since you contributed and I understand you have had previous concerns re: your safety.

So #1.) checking to make sure you are alive and well.

And #2.) Did you know/do you know FW Cat? I felt like she was on to something from the very beginning but because it was so long ago, the rules here were not as they are now (they were more lax IMO). She may not have communicated what she was trying to express in the best way, or at least in the way WS rules now dictate she communicate, but I felt like she was unfairly targeted.

More questions to follow.

 

[Wells]

There is much controversy from VI re: how the letter was found and who wrote it. Initially, some people say that TT claimed that he believed DA wrote it, saying he later changed his story. Some people say it was found on the fridge. Some people say it was retrieved from the mailbox. Some people swear it was written by TT, while some say it was partially written by DA and finished by TT. Official results have been inconclusive. Privately hired handwriting experts say TT. FW Cat believed TT forced DA to write it in an unknown car under duress while the car was moving, perhaps written using the dashboard or the window as the flat surface to write on. WS'ers have strong opinions that TT wrote it. Thoughts?

 

[k-mac]

Purely gut instinct.
I feel like TT was very disappointed with Rachel as a 'wife'.
Afterall she was a child still...no surprises there. in a hurry to grow up....but these things dont happen over night.
These things tend to follow a usual pattern and IMO TT and D were still 'carrying on' behind the scenes and maybe nothing was planned but I reckon Rachel and the girls swung by the garage to see TT and TT killed them there for unknown reason.
Did Rachel catch him mucking around with D?? OR UNKNOWN FEMALE?
Pissed she was going to the mall instead of being the little woman at home??
THIS WAS THE 70S.
Volatile relationships are only one smack in the head from death at any time.
That simple.

moo

 

[tilomagnet]

I have been following this Case for years and my best guess what happened would be pretty much the same as yours.

 

[beubeubeu]

I think that everybody's obvious suspect could have a motive to murder all three girls, not "just one".
And because I just lost my overly long post, I'll try to elaborate less for a change.

Rachel was married to our obvious suspect.
Renee was her best friend.
Renee's boyfriend was Julie's brother.
Renee and Julie's brother were "responsible" for Rachel to meet with his friends and schoolmates as she was visiting Renee and even her Grandma.
One of which was rumoured as causing obvious suspect jealousy to flourish.
I don't think that anything was going on between them, but everyone who knows how the jealousy works, also knows that saying "hello" to a clerk is more than enough for hours if not days of mental abuse with accusation of alleged "cheating".
There was also this tiny detail mentioned by someone, that allegedly Renee's father complained to Rachel's father (while they weren't considered friends nor buddies, just kinda acquainted neighbours) about Rachel supposedly acting inappropriate with one of the Renee's boyfriend's male friends.
No doubt in my mind that Cotton would not keep that information to himself.

But also no doubt in my mind that there was no need for this to actually happen (meaning Renee's father involvement). Even if it was as little as:
a) some sort of misunderstanding between fathers,
b) Cotton coming up with the story himself,
c) TT being teased by someone (possibly Cotton) in such a way.
It is a thing for some people to find mocking someone about their spouse cheating on them as the funniest joke ever. Especially if the one mocked/teased is jealous. Basically more jealous the person is, and more anger/trouble it causes, the funnier it is to do.

Logically speaking - which is kinda ridiculous to say in the context of murderous rage - the presence of two young girls whitnessing the violent outburst should be enough to make the person cool down. For some time. To express the anger and jealousy later. Or to commit premeditated murder later.
Him murdering Rachel only to discover some time later that there are two girls waiting for her... possible, but that would but that would be after the initial shock of commiting unplanned murder and switch into the cold blooded murderer right away. And this is not how this guy seems to be acting, relying on the sources available. He's all over the place with the letter, it seems so chaotic. No way that someone is switching from violent murderer of passion into cold blooded killer and into chaotic guy in span of one day.

Different scenario, in which he has all three:
- Rachel, who's the main cause of his jealousy, possessiveness and anger,
- Renee, who can be in his mind responsible for creating Rachel opportunities to cheat on him, maybe even covering for her, embarassing him in other men's eyes (Rachel and Renee's fathers) + she may be suspected of knowing how the marriage really looks like, and that he's not the awesome guy he wants to be seen as,
- Julie, who's Renee's friend (so "in" it by proxy) and Renee's boyfriend's sister, same boyfriend who also could be seen as responsible for HIS ego being hurt, cause he has all this guy-friends and highly likely is supportive of Renee (while Renee is supportive for Rachel, and that's usually unforgivable crime in jealous/possesive type's eyes).

Murdering all three, in convenient surroundings - like an empty workshop where Rachel would likely stop to pick him up before 3 PM on that day - would "punish" them all: Rachel, Renee, Julie, Renee's father (who, if the story/rumour had any truth in it would in HIS eyes very likely thought less of HIM as a MAN cause the father knew that HE couldn't keep HIS wife in line) and Renee's boyfriend.

Some trigger likely appeared before that, but it could be very little.
Time before Christmas is often very tense and stressfull for people, here there was also the fact that Cotton was dying... and TT appears as exactly the type of guy who would be first to point out that's inappropriate to be happy and have fun when family member is dying of cancer. I would not expect that any shortage with finding out things to fight about could appear between them.

 

[beubeubeu]

Did Rachel catch him mucking around with D?? OR UNKNOWN FEMALE?

As you said, it was the 70's. It would cause no trouble for him. Man was cheating, so what? Probably the wife's fault anyway...

 

[beubeubeu]

There is much controversy from VI re: how the letter was found and who wrote it. Initially, some people say that TT claimed that he believed DA wrote it, saying he later changed his story. Some people say it was found on the fridge. Some people say it was retrieved from the mailbox. Some people swear it was written by TT, while some say it was partially written by DA and finished by TT. Official results have been inconclusive. Privately hired handwriting experts say TT. FW Cat believed TT forced DA to write it in an unknown car under duress while the car was moving, perhaps written using the dashboard or the window as the flat surface to write on. WS'ers have strong opinions that TT wrote it. Thoughts?

As for the note I'd be interested to know if anyone tried to figure out from where the paper came from.
Any notebook left in the car? Was it A4 page cut in half? A page taken out of notepad? One of those little cards sometimes available with envelopes? Any marks, logos? What gradation? Something that would be easy to grab anywhere anytime and could come from any source, or maybe some slightly fancier paper that could be only taken from specific brand's products?

 

[jetsfanjohn]

Purely gut instinct.
I feel like TT was very disappointed with Rachel as a 'wife'.
Afterall she was a child still...no surprises there. in a hurry to grow up....but these things dont happen over night.
These things tend to follow a usual pattern and IMO TT and D were still 'carrying on' behind the scenes and maybe nothing was planned but I reckon Rachel and the girls swung by the garage to see TT and TT killed them there for unknown reason.
Did Rachel catch him mucking around with D?? OR UNKNOWN FEMALE?
Pissed she was going to the mall instead of being the little woman at home??
THIS WAS THE 70S.
Volatile relationships are only one smack in the head from death at any time.
That simple.

moo

I would agree with most if this.

JMO, I wouldn't say they were killed for an unknown reason. We had the incident with CJG at the Wilson's house a month earlier, but more importantly CJG was still on the scene on December 23 1974.

I think Rachel went first with the perp unaware at the time that she was not alone.